Super Bowl: Postcard from New York No. 6

Well, this city has officially gone from regular-New York crowded to it-takes-five-minutes-to-walk-a-block-near-Times-Square crowded.

For much of this week, it seemed that New York was so big, the Super Bowl might not really feel like a huge deal in the city, despite shutting down a stretch of Broadway to create Super Bowl Boulevard. Beginning Friday, then even more so on Saturday, it became abundantly clear that Super Bowl mania is taking over the city.

And Seahawks fans in particular are making their presence felt. Whether it was on a jog through Central Park (I finally did something healthy this week!), or looking at the block-long line outside Carnegie Deli, or walking through midtown toward Times Square, I saw people clad in Seahawks gear everywhere I went (on a related note, I’m really glad I tried Carnegie Deli earlier in the week). While this is only an estimate, it appeared that Seahawks fans outnumbered Broncos fans by close to a 3-to-1 ratio. That obviously doesn’t guarantee a similar imbalance in MetLife Stadium today, but it certainly seems like the Seahawks will have a little bit of a home-field advantage in Super Bowl XLVIII.

Like any NFL Saturday, there was no media availability, which meant a chance to sleep in a bit, then get some work done for today’s paper, and yes, to get outside for a little exercise with temperatures rising above freezing. Speaking of which, that “how will the weather affect the Super Bowl” storyline seems pretty pointless now. I also had a chance to go meet a friend for a beer, which given the amount of people in town, meant what should have been a 10-minute walk took 20. Also, I definitely did not have that beer before writing this. Only that sentence about meeting a friend for a beer was written after said meeting for a beer. Really, boss (and I mean that in a this-is-directed-towards-my-boss kind of way, and not a Marshawn-Lynch-ending-every-sentence-with-boss kind of way).

Finally, I’ve got to give a shout-out to the 810 Deli, which is across the street from the media hotel, and priced much better than a New York hotel when it comes to food. You have provided me with affordable breakfast and/or lunch all week, so thanks for that.